This is a summary of 2001 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
The year saw the tradition of UK acts dominating the top of the charts carried on from 2000. Songs were starting to spend 2–3 weeks at the summit improving on the large amounts of one week number ones from the previous year. CD sales also improved slightly with 3 million selling singles being issued this year. Overall, 30 songs topped the charts over the course of this year.
The first new No. 1 of the year was from the first ever Portuguese act to top the UK charts; Rui Da Silva featuring Cassandra and their dance track, "Touch Me" spent 1-week at the summit. The year ended with the announcement that the pop group Steps were to split up on Boxing Day.
Five scored their final chart topper with "Let's Dance", which marked their final single as a group. The follow-up No. 4 hit, "Closer to Me" was released after news of the band's split. They released a Greatest Hits compilation at the end of the year, which made number 9. BBMak were another boyband to split, however their career was very short-lived with 2001 seeing the start and end of it. Their debut single, "Back Here" failed to make the Top 20 upon initial release, however was then re-issued and peaked at #5. The follow-up single, "Still on Your Side" peaked at No. 8 and despite seeming to continue on with success, they disappeared after the release of their debut album Sooner or Later, which was a very slight Top 20 smash.
Blue were the most successful new boy band of 2001; whilst their debut single "All Rise" only made No. 4, other boy bands quickly fading away meant that it wasn't long before Blue could take centre stage. Their next two singles, "Too Close" (a cover of the 1998 U.S. chart topper from American boy band Next) and "If You Come Back", a slow love ballad, quickly became chart toppers for the group. However, once again, Westlife became the most successful boy band of the year. Although their run of consecutive No. 1 singles had been broken the previous year by Bob the Builder, they quickly returned to the top spot with the Comic Relief single of the year, "Uptown Girl" (a cover of the Billy Joel 1983 UK number 1) and "Queen of My Heart". By the end of the year, they had accumulated a total of 9 No. 1 singles on the UK chart, putting them side by side with the Spice Girls and ABBA. Their 3rd album, entitled World of Our Own, topped the UK albums chart for 1-week.
ABC aired a talent show, Making the Band, in which by the public vote, boyband O-Town were picked as winners. Their debut single, "Liquid Dreams" peaked at No. 3 in the UK and their follow-up, "All Or Nothing", stalled one place lower.
The Backstreet Boys released The Hits: Chapter One, which went platinum. The greatest hits album featured a new song, "Drowning", which got to number 4.
Girl groups were slowly changing away from 90s pop styles to a more R'N'B/Hip Hop direction. All Saints scored their final UK chart hit, with "All Hooked Up", a final release from their second album, peaking at #7. A greatest hits compilation, entitled All Hits followed, but it only made No. 18 on the albums chart.
Replacing Kerry Katona, Jenny Frost joined girl group Atomic Kitten, who became one of the main early 21st century pop girl groups. After the member change, the band's single "Whole Again", hit No. 1 for 4 weeks, becoming the longest stay since Westlife at New Year in 1999/2000 and also the 4th biggest selling single of the year. They scored a 2nd chart topper later in the year with a remake of The Bangles' "Eternal Flame" chart topper from 1989, which spent 2 weeks at the top and continued on to be one of the most successful groups of the decade.
Destiny's Child started the new trend for girl groups to veer away from pop, as their chart-topping third album, Survivor, spanned a 2nd consecutive No. 1 hit with the title track. The third single, "Emotion" peaked at #3. Mis-teeq, a girl group in a similar vein to Destiny's Child, scored great success throughout the year, with their No. 3 album Lickin' On Both Sides spanning 3 Top 10 hits; "Why", their No. 8 debut, "All I Want" (#2) & One Night Stand (#5). 3LW also made their debut on the UK charts with the No. 6 hit "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)". Their follow-up single only made No. 21 and their eponymous debut album was not released in the UK.
2001 was a moderately successful year for film and television music, providing some memorable hit singles and albums. The Tweenies and Bob The Builder both released singles, the former of which was a Christmas release making No. 9 and the latter having his 2nd No. 1 single with a re-make of the No. 1 from 1999 by Lou Bega, "Mambo No. 5". This 2nd No. 1 made Bob the first non-human who "sung" on his recordings to hit the top more than once.
Two very successful movies, Moulin Rouge! and Bridget Jones's Diary, had equally successful soundtracks and produced memorable hit singles each. On the Bridget Jones soundtrack, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell had a chart-topping hit with a cover of The Weather Girls classic "It's Raining Men", while Gabrielle provided her vocals on the No. 4 hit "Out of Reach" which became her first Top 5 single since the chart-topping "Rise" in early 2000. The Moulin Rouge!collaboration proved to be slightly more successful with Christina Aguilera joining forces with Pink, Lil' Kim and Mýa on a cover of the 1975 hit single "Lady Marmalade" (itself previously covered in 1998 by All Saints. Their version proved to be even more successful, topping the charts worldwide and becoming the 900th single to top the UK charts.
Glitter became Mariah Carey's acting debut and the soundtrack became her 10th album release. Despite her massive worldwide success throughout the 90s, the new millennium did not take so kindly to her as both the movie and the soundtrack were a critical and commercial flop. Lead single "Loverboy" failed to make much of an impact, peaking at No. 12 in the UK (made No. 2 in the US, breaking her run of lead single chart toppers). The album peaked at No. 10 in the UK, another weak showing on Carey's behalf. Enough although the former of these singles failed to chart in the US and the latter was not released due to the weak performance of prior singles, "Never Too Far/Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" was able to crack the UK Top 40, peaking at #32.
2001 also saw the beginning of music talent programmes with the band Hear'Say being created on the T.V programme "Popstars" in the UK. It would go on to spawn the creation of similar formats including the British "Pop Idol", American version, "American Idol" and "The X Factor".
| Chart date (week ending) | Song | Artist(s) | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Can We Fix It?" | Bob the Builder | 90,300 | |
| "Touch Me" | 68,473 | ||
| "Love Don't Cost a Thing" | Jennifer Lopez | 67,879 | |
| "Rollin'" | Limp Bizkit | 49,487 | |
| 47,435 | |||
| "Whole Again" | 69,286 | ||
| 85,295 | |||
| 101,919 | |||
| 113,090 | |||
| "It Wasn't Me" | Shaggy featuring Ricardo "RikRok" Ducent | 345,498 | |
| "Uptown Girl" | Westlife | 292,319 | |
| "Pure and Simple" | Hear'Say | 549,839 | |
| 242,000 | |||
| 81,000 | |||
| "What Took You So Long?" | 76,317 | ||
| 64,818 | |||
| "Survivor" | Destiny's Child | 104,062 | |
| "Don't Stop Movin'" | S Club 7 | 178,985 | |
| "It's Raining Men" | Geri Halliwell | 154,811 | |
| 78,000 | |||
| "Don't Stop Movin'" | S Club 7 | 63,500 | |
| "Do You Really Like It?" | DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies | 148,594 | |
| "Angel" | Shaggy featuring Rayvon | 178,645 | |
| 101,000 | |||
| 76,000 | |||
| "Lady Marmalade" | Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink | 109,405 | |
| "The Way to Your Love" | Hear'Say | 75,514 | |
| "Another Chance" | Roger Sanchez | 72,534 | |
| "Eternity / The Road to Mandalay" | Robbie Williams | 70,186 | |
| 64,000 | |||
| "Eternal Flame" | Atomic Kitten | 141,994 | |
| 70,000 | |||
| "21 Seconds" | So Solid Crew | 118,135 | |
| "Let's Dance" | Five | 84,782 | |
| 52,000 | |||
| "Too Close" | Blue | 83,886 | |
| "Mambo No. 5" | Bob the Builder | 102,056 | |
| "Hey Baby" | DJ Ötzi | 90,748 | |
| "Can't Get You Out of My Head" | Kylie Minogue | 306,648 | |
| 180,699 | |||
| 122,000 | |||
| 95,500 | |||
| "Because I Got High" | Afroman | 129,613 | |
| 109,000 | |||
| 77,060 | |||
| "Queen of My Heart" | Westlife | 139,344 | |
| "If You Come Back" | Blue | 87,600 | |
| "Have You Ever" | S Club 7 | 143,324 | |
| "Gotta Get Thru This" | Daniel Bedingfield | 108,799 | |
| 80,000 | |||
| "Somethin' Stupid" | Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman | 98,506 | |
| 110,000 |
| Chart date (week ending) | Album | Artist(s) | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Beatles | 88,739 | |
| 43,000 | |||
| 31,000 | |||
| The Greatest Hits | Texas | 29,000 | |
| Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water | Limp Bizkit | 40,000 | |
| No Angel | 78,500 | ||
| 79,000 | |||
| 101,000 | |||
| 84,000 | |||
| 83,000 | |||
| 64,000 | |||
| Songbird | Eva Cassidy | 78,000 | |
| 120,000 | |||
| Popstars | Hear'Say | 306,631 | |
| 127,000 | |||
| Just Enough Education to Perform | Stereophonics | 140,000 | |
| 51,000 | |||
| Free All Angels | Ash | 39,900 | |
| Survivor | Destiny's Child | 118,000 | |
| 53,000 | |||
| Reveal | R.E.M. | 111,000 | |
| 53,000 | |||
| Hot Shot | 54,500 | ||
| Amnesiac | 90,500 | ||
| The Invisible Band | 199,697 | ||
| 78,000 | |||
| 53,000 | |||
| 35,000 | |||
| 8701 | Usher | 42,500 | |
| Survivor | Destiny's Child | 30,000 | |
| 31,500 | |||
| White Ladder | David Gray | 35,000 | |
| Right Now | Atomic Kitten | 47,000 | |
| White Ladder | David Gray | 180,000 | |
| Break the Cycle | Staind | 39,000 | |
| Iowa | Slipknot | 52,000 | |
| A Funk Odyssey | Jamiroquai | 80,200 | |
| 43,500 | |||
| The Id | Macy Gray | 36,000 | |
| No Angel | Dido | 35,000 | |
| Fever | Kylie Minogue | 139,000 | |
| 115,000 | |||
| Gold | Steps | 146,000 | |
| 98,000 | |||
| Invincible | Michael Jackson | 110,000 | |
| Gold | Steps | 55,000 | |
| World of Our Own | Westlife | 178,000 | |
| Swing When You're Winning | Robbie Williams | 295,024 | |
| 194,000 | |||
| 212,000 | |||
| 245,000 | |||
| 365,208 |
| Chart date (week ending) | Album |
|---|---|
| Now 47 | |
| Clubbers Guide to 2001 | |
| Breakdown – The Very Best of Euphoric Dance | |
| The Chillout Session | |
| New Woman 2001 | |
| The Annual – Spring 2001 | |
| Now 48 | |
| Bridget Jones' Diary | |
| Capital Gold – Legends | |
| Now 49 | |
| The Classic Chillout Album | |
| Hits 50 | |
| The Classic Chillout Album | |
| Pepsi Chart 2002 | |
| Now Dance 2002 | |
| The Annual 2002 | |
| Now 50 | |
Data based on sales from 31 December 2000 to 29 December 2001.[1]
| scope=col | scope=col | Title | scope=col | Artist | scope=col | Peak position | scope=col | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 1 | "It Wasn't Me" | Shaggy featuring Rikrok | 1 | 1,150,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 2 | "Pure and Simple" | Hear'Say | 1 | 1,070,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 3 | "Can't Get You Out of My Head" | 1 | 989,000 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 4 | "Whole Again" | Atomic Kitten | 1 | 930,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 5 | "Hey Baby (Uhh, Ahh)" | DJ Ötzi | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 6 | "Uptown Girl" | Westlife | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 7 | "Don't Stop Movin'" | S Club 7 | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 8 | "Angel" | Shaggy featuring Rayvon | 1 | 585,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 9 | "Teenage Dirtbag" | Wheatus | 2 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 10 | "Because I Got High" | Afroman | 1 | 490,000[2] | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 11 | "Do You Really Like It?" | DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies | 1 | 470,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 12 | "Clint Eastwood" | Gorillaz | 4 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 13 | "It's Raining Men" | 1 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 14 | "Lady Marmalade" | , Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink | 1 | 400,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 15 | "Eternal Flame" | Atomic Kitten | 1 | 379,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 16 | "Gotta Get Thru This" | 1 | 370,000 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 17 | "Mambo No. 5" | Bob the Builder | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 18 | "What Would You Do?" | City High | 3 | 350,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 19 | "21 Seconds" | So Solid Crew | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 20 | "Eternity"/"The Road to Mandalay" | 1 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 21 | "Have You Ever" | S Club 7 | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 22 | "Castles in the Sky" | Ian Van Dahl | 3 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 23 | "Queen of My Heart" | Westlife | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 24 | "Out of Reach" | Gabrielle | 4 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 25 | "Touch Me" | featuring Cassandra | 1 | 290,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 26 | "Perfect Gentleman" | 4 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 27 | "Rollin'" | Limp Bizkit | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 28 | "Follow Me" | Uncle Kracker | 3 | 280,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 29 | "Let's Dance" | Five | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 30 | "Somethin' Stupid" | and Nicole Kidman | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 31 | "I'm Like a Bird" | 5 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 32 | "Smooth Criminal" | Alien Ant Farm | 3 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 33 | "Heaven Is a Halfpipe" | OPM | 4 | 270,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 34 | "Starlight" | featuring Mani Hoffman | 2 | 260,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 35 | "Survivor" | Destiny's Child | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 36 | "Purple Pills" | D12 | 2 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 37 | "Chain Reaction"/"One for Sorrow" (remix) | Steps | 2 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 38 | "Butterfly" | Crazy Town | 3 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 39 | "Always Come Back to Your Love" | 3 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 40 | "Another Chance" | 1 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 41 | "What Took You So Long?" | 1 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 42 | "Everytime You Need Me" | Fragma featuring Maria Rubia | 3 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 43 | "Ms. Jackson" | OutKast | 2 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 44 | "All Rise" | Blue | 4 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 45 | "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" | Eve featuring Gwen Stefani | 4 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 46 | "Take Me Home" | 2 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 47 | "Too Close" | Blue | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 48 | "Here with Me" | Dido | 4 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 49 | "Dancing in the Moonlight" | Toploader | 7 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 50 | "If You Come Back" | Blue | 1 |
Data based on sales from 31 December 2000 to 29 December 2001.[3]
| scope=col | scope=col | Title | scope=col | Artist | scope=col | Peak position | scope=col | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 1 | No Angel | Dido | 1 | 1,920,170 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 2 | Swing When You're Winning | 1 | 1,491,750 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 3 | White Ladder | 1 | 1,058,490 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 4 | Just Enough Education to Perform | Stereophonics | 1 | 946,290 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 5 | Dreams Can Come True, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 | Gabrielle | 2 | 945,820 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 6 | Gold: Greatest Hits | Steps | 1 | 934,220 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 7 | The Invisible Band | Travis | 1 | 933,610 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 8 | Songbird | 1 | 872,880 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 9 | Survivor | Destiny's Child | 1 | 870,600 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 10 | Fever | 1 | 832,790 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 11 | Hot Shot | Shaggy | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 12 | World of Our Own | Westlife | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 13 | Hybrid Theory | Linkin Park | 4 | 796,000[4] | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 14 | Popstars | Hear'Say | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 15 | Not That Kind | Anastacia | 2 | 722,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 16 | All Rise | Blue | 2 | 620,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 17 | Sunshine | S Club 7 | 3 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 18 | Encore | 6 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 19 | Parachutes | Coldplay | 2 | 570,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 20 | GHV2 | Madonna | 2 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 21 | Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water | Limp Bizkit | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 22 | Gorillaz | Gorillaz | 3 | 530,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 23 | All That You Can't Leave Behind | U2 | 3 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 24 | Bee Gees | 5 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 25 | Pink Floyd | 2 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 26 | Whoa, Nelly! | 2 | 450,000 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 27 | The Story So Far: The Very Best of Rod Stewart | 7 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 28 | A Funk Odyssey | Jamiroquai | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 29 | Onka's Big Moka | Toploader | 4 | 420,000 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 30 | J.Lo | 2 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 31 | The Greatest Hits | Texas | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 32 | Sing When You're Winning | 3 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 33 | Solid Bronze – Great Hits | 10 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 34 | Songs from the West Coast | 2 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 35 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 36 | The Ultimate Collection | 4 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 37 | The Very Best of The Eagles | 3 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 38 | Songs in A Minor | 7 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 39 | Rise | Gabrielle | 5 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 40 | The Marshall Mathers LP | Eminem | 2 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 41 | Music | Madonna | 5 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 42 | Right Now | Atomic Kitten | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 43 | Best of The Corrs | 6 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 44 | 19 | |||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 45 | Born to Do It | 8 | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 46 | 8701 | Usher | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 47 | Reveal | R.E.M. | 1 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 48 | Discovery | Daft Punk | 2 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 49 | Small World Big Band | and Friends | 8 | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 50 | Cieli di Toscana | 3 |
Notes:
Data based on sales from 31 December 2000 to 29 December 2001.[5]
| scope=col | scope=col | Title | scope=col | Peak position | scope=col | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 1 | Now! 50 | 1 | 1,210,000 | |||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 2 | Bridget Jones's Diary Original Soundtrack | 1 | 961,000 | |||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 3 | Now! 48 | 1 | 867,000 | |||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 4 | Now! 49 | 1 | 836,000 | |||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 5 | The Classical Chillout Album | 1 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 6 | The Chillout Session | 1 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 7 | Capital Gold Legends | 1 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 8 | The Annual 2002 | 1 | 370,000 | |||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 9 | Chilled Ibiza | 3 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center;" | 10 | Classical Chillout | 4 | 364,000 |